Equity, Efficiency and Employment: Setting Social Housing Rents

Rent policy is one of the key aspects of the management of social housing. It determines the affordability of the housing for its tenants, as well as providing the main income stream for social housing providers.

Social housing rents are generally set as a proportion of the tenant’s income, with the general principle being that they pay 25% of income as rent. This policy area has been the subject of much debate over the past few years.

This report, written by Jon Eastgate for National Shelter examines a number of alternatives to income-based rents that have been suggested in recent time. All fail the affordability test.